One person was killed and another injured on Saturday as heavy rains continued throughout the nation, causing extensive flooding and landslides.
Northern and eastern Taiwan bore the brunt of the rainstorms, with 2,000 people in Yilan County stranded after a road was blocked by landslides, while a hotel in Taitung County was hit by flash flooding.
The torrential rain, caused by the combined effects of northeasterly winds and Typhoon Khanun south of Taiwan, prompted the Taitung County Government to close schools and offices yesterday.
Photo: Huang Ming-tang, Taipei Times
A landslide in the county’s Xiangyang National Forest Recreation Area blocked a mountain road, stranding 93 hikers who most likely had supplies for only one meal, Taitung police said.
The mountain road will not be cleared for traffic until this afternoon, the Directorate-General of Highways said.
In the northern part of the nation, a man was killed on Saturday night when his truck skidded off the Northern Coastal Highway in New Taipei City and slammed into a guard rail.
Meanwhile, the New Taipei City Government said an entire residential community in the mountainous Sijhih District (汐止) was at risk due to erosion caused by the rain.
One injury was also reported on Saturday when a boat capsized off the coast of Yunlin County due to the bad weather.
The captain, a Chinese national, was rescued by a National Airborne Service Corps helicopter and taken to a hospital.
The flooding, landslides, mudslides and rock falls caused by the unrelenting rain have also disrupted travel in several parts of the nation, while some roads have been closed as a precautionary measure.
In the area near the affected highway in Yilan County, a road that serves five villages has been blocked by landslides, cutting off access to the rest of the county for the 2,000 residents.
The disruptions also extended to rail travel, particularly on the South Link Line that runs between the east and west coasts across southern Taiwan.
A 50m section of the track near Taimali Township (太麻里) in Taitung County was damaged by the flooding, affecting 800 passengers, the Taiwan Railways Administration said yesterday.
The weather is expected to return to normal today and tomorrow, with a noticeable increase in temperature, meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said.
However, due to the influence of northeasterly winds, the temperature is expected to drop between Wednesday and Saturday, with rain expected in northern and northeastern parts of the nation, he added.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
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